SYDNEY: Domestic students have emerged as the bloodiest victims in the forced closure of Esmod Australia, six months on from the school’s spectacular collapse.
Esmod Australia – rebranded as the Australian School of Fashion less than a month before its closure – was forced to shut its doors on November 6, 2009. The abrupt lock-out was due to its parent company, Global Campus Management/Meridian Group, entering voluntary administration.
While Esmod’s international students were protected by measures detailed in the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000, domestic students studying at the private college have struggled to get their hands on a refund of fees.
Among those students is Thomas Saint-Cyr. A graduate of FBI Fashion College, he planned to commence a three-year Diploma of Fashion at Esmod Australia in 2010.
“We paid for the full three years upfront so we wouldn’t have to pay by semester,” Saint-Cyr said. “We just wanted to get it out of the way.”
He revealed he paid Esmod Australia $55,000 for the course and is “disappointed” by the lack of communication surrounding the college’s demise.
“It’s tarnished the reputation of the school,” he said. “It’s one of the best schools in the world for fashion... they’ve got successful schools around 18 other countries and they came to Australia. They didn’t even set up for a year and they already got shot down.”
The liquidator handling Meridian’s collapse, PPB director Brett Manwaring, had no good news for former Esmod students such as Saint-Cyr who are still out of pocket.
“There is no likelihood of a return to unsecured creditors,” Manwaring said.
Jacqueline Verrall, national quality manager for the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET), told Ragtrader that it assisted Esmod’s former international students in receiving placements in other courses, as required by law.
“Meridian Group had Tuition Assurance Scheme (TAS) cover for international students, therefore all students who asked for ACPET’s assistance were relocated to new colleges,” Verrall said.
However, she revealed domestic students did not have the same entitlements.
“Under legislation, registered training organisations do not have to have TAS cover for domestic students. ACPET assisted the domestic students by ensuring they received their academic statements and placing them in new colleges where we were able.”
Enquiries by Ragtrader have revealed Sydney private fashion college Whitehouse Institute of Design is not aware of any former Esmod students among its ranks. The federal Department of Education directed local students to state-based resources including Fair Trading agencies for assistance or advice.
Whitehouse Institute of Design CEO Ian Tudor said while the disappearance of Esmod from the Australian education landscape had not affected Whitehouse directly, it was indicative of the sector’s “ongoing difficulties”.
“A lot of colleges with international students have closed and I think it’s been very embarrassing for Australian international education,” Tudor said.
“We did see the problems with the international student market, the way the government had changed provisions since the previous government, the way it basically opened up the market to certain abuses by people – let’s use the term carpetbaggers – who wanted to get in, make a quick profit and get out. So we actively avoided the international market because we could see as far as three years ago that it was going to end in tears.”
Tudor revealed that of Whitehouse’s 500 current students, “15 or 20” are international students, largely from Scandinavia.
He added that Whitehouse will derive one benefit from Esmod’s demise, namely the use of its former premises in Surry Hills in Sydney. The institute hopes to move into the building in time for this year’s second semester.
Erin O’Loughlin